Where can I find easy-to-understand books about relativity?

[codeman_nz]

Hi everyone,

Can anyone recommend some good books about relativity. I read Relativity Demystified by David McMahon and Paul M. Alsing which excellent as it explained the mathematics with simple examples. So I am after something similar.

Thanks in advance.

 

[atyy]

Orzel, How to Teach Relativity to Your Dog

Steane, The Wonderful World of Relativity

French, Special Relativity

Schutz, Gravity from the Ground Up

Orzel's and Steane's books seem to be at the same level as "Relativity Demystified". French's book is an old undergraduate textbook that is simple and clear. Schutz's book is about general relativity, and is nominally on the same level as Orzel's and Steane's books, but because it is longer, one would probably need to be much more patient to finish it.

A free online book with a nice section about special relativity is Crowell's Simple Nature.

Takeuchi also has a nice free online Special Relativity.

 

[alialice]

The best books about general relativity in my advice are:
R.Wald, General Relativity
Misner, Thorne, Wheeler, GRAVITATION
The first one is a classic, the second is called "phone book" because of its volume, but is very complete. The only flaw is that the books are a bit dated, so they aren't up to date about cosmology.

 

[vanhees71]

I like Weinberg's books. For GR he has written one with the title "Gravitation and Cosmology" in the 1970ies. Concerning the cosmology part it's outdated, but GR (and also SR!) is nicely explained in great detail, including the necessary mathematics. For cosmology he has written a new book "Cosmology" in 2008 which is also very clearly written.

 

[bcrowell]

Can anyone recommend some good books about relativity. I read Relativity Demystified by David McMahon and Paul M. Alsing which excellent as it explained the mathematics with simple examples. So I am after something similar.

It might be helpful if you could explain more about what you want in a second book that you didn't get in that book.

Also, are you interested in special relativity only, or general relativity as well?

In addition to those that people have already mentioned, some other nonmathematical books worth considering are:

Gardner, Relativity Simply Explained
Mermin, It's About Time
Geroch, Relativity from A to B
Will, Was Einstein Right?

 

[TSny]

I'll throw in one of my favorites for an introductory book: A Journey into Gravity and Spacetime by John Archibald Wheeler. This book gives a unique presentation with wonderful insight by a great mind. (Plus, very cheap used copies can be found online!)

 

[julian]

D'Inverno.

 

[haushofer]

The best books about general relativity in my advice are:
R.Wald, General Relativity

That's a nice reference if you already know the subject, but for learning the subject I've never understood why people like it.

For special relativity I would recommend Moore's "Traveler's guide through spacetime", for GR I would recommend Carroll or d'Inverno. :)

 

[bcrowell]

For special relativity I would recommend Moore's "Traveler's guide through spacetime"

I think that should be "to," not "through." AFAICT it's out of print, but it seems that you can pick up used copies on bookfinder.com fairly cheaply. What do you like about it? Any reason to prefer it over Taylor and Wheeler's Spacetime Physics?

 

[Naty1]

Some reading and a dictionary on relativity here:

http://www.einstein-online.info/

Also, RELATIVTY, by Einstein is a book for the general public from 'hisself'...




and I have seen copies available for online reading...

 

[alialice]

About Wald's book:

That's a nice reference if you already know the subject, but for learning the subject I've never understood why people like it.

I like Wald's book, but I started studying GR with the help of professor who was very clear in his explanation. He started the course with some differential geometry and than went on. So with the help of my notes, and the Lecture notes on GR by Carrol, that I forgot to mention before, I was able to appreciate Wald. :)